Wednesday, April 04, 2007

The new bike racks we see in Santa Monica may hold 3 bikes and come with plastic parts. Holding 3 bikes will allow more bicyclists to use them at one time. And the plastic parts may help protect bikes from scratches according to the Seattle Bicycle Messenger Blog

As some of the more tenured bus/bike multi modal commuters may know, sometimes - and anytime is to many when a cyclist needs it - the bus bike racks are broken with a bent up trough that holds the wheels. And these bent troughs may either make mounting a bike in it impossible or risky of a bike falling out after being mounted. And perhaps these plastic modular trough may make for quick, efficient replacements, that are also good for the environment by using recycled plastics. The repair/replacement can be done by merely up bolting the old one and bolting in the new one. So down down may be far shorter on these precious bike racks.

Also, the new hooks on the arms appear to be designed holes in them that could be used to string a cable lock or a U-Lock through to secure the bike wheel and/or frame to make the bicycle a bit more secure from theft while mounted. This can be of special value for high priced bikes, bikes traveling through high crime areas, if a cyclists forgets thier bike on the rack, or if mounted to one of the racks in the rear of the bus (smile).

Next step... perhaps a rack for 3 bikes in the rear of the bus, for a total capacity of 6 bikes per bus? could something like that work on the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus or the MTA bus lines?